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Prevention and Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage: An Overview

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Recent Trends in Modelling of Environmental Contaminants

Abstract

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is recognized as one of the serious environmental problems in the mining industry. It is formed by a series of complex geo-chemical and microbial reactions that occur when water comes in contact with pyrite (iron disulphide minerals) in coal, refuse or the overburden of a mine operation. It has low pH, high TDS, high levels of trace elements, sulphate and total hardness. It can severely contaminate surface and ground water making it harmful to human and aquatic life, concrete structures and mining machineries. Hence, attention must be paid to reduce the generation of AMD as well as to treat it. This paper succinctly describes the genesis of AMD and its associated technical issues. It discusses in detail the factors affecting AMD and characteristics of AMD water in Indian mines vis-à-vis abroad. It also illustrates the various strategies that may be adopted for prevention, control and active and passive methods of treatment of AMD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Engineering, National Institute of Technology, 769008, Rourkela, India

    Dr D. P. Tripathy

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Correspondence to D. P. Tripathy .

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  1. Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

    Debashish Sengupta

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Tripathy, D. (2014). Prevention and Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage: An Overview. In: Sengupta, D. (eds) Recent Trends in Modelling of Environmental Contaminants. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1783-1_4

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